The Lady or the Saint
by Mercutio of Verona
Summary: A short fic about Une dealing with her personalities... (revised)


  
  
The Lady or the Saint  
  
By Mercutio  
  
  
  
I lay still and asleep, drifting quietly through the darkness and silence.  
  
I opened my eyes and saw myself.  
  
Two "Unes" stood before me. Lady Une, with her face obscured by thick glasses and her hair tied back in buns stood to the left in full military regalia. To the right was the so-called Saint Une with her hair hanging comfortably past her blue-clothed shoulders.  
  
"What's... what's going on?" I heard my own disembodied voice ask.  
  
"Do you not understand?" the left Une said. "You are in a coma, and you cannot awaken without choosing a personality to use."  
  
"What? But why can't I just go out like I am?"  
  
"If you do," Saint Une said. "You'll only create more of a mess. There isn't room for another personality."  
  
I was confused. "You mean I'm not a separate personality?"  
  
"Of course not," said Lady Une. "You are simply the gray area in the middle that chooses which one of us to use. You usually do it unconsciously... I don't know why you're awake right now... but that matters not. All you need to do is select either the Saint or I to wake up the body and save Treize."  
  
"But... I don't want to choose either of you," I said. And it was true. While everyone admired Lady Une for her competence and her talent in strategy and leadership, she was well known as cold and heartless. Saint Une, on the other hand, was quiet and gentle, and while she was a famous advocate of peace, she was also weak-willed and fragile, like a less effective version of Princess Peacecraft of the ill-fated Cinq Kingdom.   
  
"Oh, but you must," Saint Une said gently, although it was easy to detect the growing frustration in her voice. "Please do choose me. I know how to talk to Treize, and I can convince him to cease his attack on Zechs."  
  
Lady Une snorted. "That will never work. The Wing Zero is being held nearby. I will go out there, and crush White Fang's forces before Mr. Treize is injured."  
  
"But that will cause too much unnecessary bloodshed. I believe nonviolence would be a better solution."  
  
"Hmph."  
  
"You... you two really do love him, don't you...?" I said.  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
"Are you daft? Why else would we be arguing about this?"   
  
"Well..." I said "I love him too. And... And that's why I have to do this." I said as I mentally tore myself away from the void.   
  
"NOOO!" yelled Saint Une. "How could you?"  
  
"You stupid bitch!" Lady Une screamed as she shook a fist. "When you fail whatever you plan on doing to save Mr. Treize and he dies, you know you will be sorry!"   
  
I was then jolted awake. I did it. I broke away from the Unes.  
  
I noticed that I was in a hospital bed. Was I sick? What had happened? I tried to remember, but I pushed it aside. Saving Mr. Treize was more important right now. Lady Une had mentioned the Wing Zero being nearby. I didn't know how it got here or how she knew, but I didn't care. I pulled the needles out of my arms and tore the breathing mask off my face and ran out into the hallway.  
  
Several doctors tried to stop me as I ran by, but they held back when I gave them the command to do so. Once I got outside, I realized that I was in one of Mr. Treize's favorite military bases. That meant that the Gundam hanger was nearby. I called a cab over, and ordered to be rushed there immediately.  
  
When I arrived, I was bombarded by questions from confused mechanics who didn't expect the newly-captured enemy Gundam to be piloted by someone who looked like Saint Une in a hospital gown. I didn't care, all I had to do once again is give them a stern Lady Une-ish order and they obeyed.  
  
I hoped that piloting the Wing Gundam was similar to a Taurus or Leo, or else I'd be out of luck. I was surprised, however, that it seemed to pilot itself, as if it knew where it was needed and I was only a co-pilot there for backup. It also gave off an extreme feeling of power and strength. No wonder that Yui boy preferred it. Despite the confining cockpit, it was somehow liberating at the same time. Lady Une would have fainted out of happiness.  
  
It was also mind-boggling fast. I was at the Libra battlefield in a matter of minutes. I saw OZ Mobile Suits divided on both sides and Mr. Treize in the center. He seemed to be waiting for something. I picked up no sounds on the intercom coming from the soldiers. They must have been petrified with fear or anticipation.  
  
Milliard, come fight me! We must settle this once and for all! I heard him challenge over the speakers.   
  
"...Mr. Treize?" I asked.  
  
I suddenly saw the Libra cannon take on a blue glow. They were preparing to fire the cannon! I knew that he would never be able to take the impact of the blast. And if he went down, what would become of OZ?   
  
Before I was even aware of what I was doing, I charged into his suit and knocked him out of the way. I heard a surprised gasp come from him, and then I felt a tremendous pressure being thrown against me as the beam crashed into me.  
  
Come on...I thought to the Wing Zero. You can withstand this.  
  
A few seconds later, it was over. Zechs must have realized that the beam cannon had missed.  
  
"Who are you?" Mr. Treize demanded.  
  
I knew no words were necessary. I opened the cockpit door and floated out so her could see me.  
  
"Une? Is it you?" he asked. I knew he couldn't believe it. I could barely believe it myself.  
  
"Yes... oh, Mr. Treize, why did you have to do that? We.... I was worried about you." I said as I swam through space up to the Mobile Suit. As I got inside, I finally realized that I felt a little woozy. Perhaps removing all those IV needles wasn't a very good idea after all.  
  
"Une, are you all right?" he asked, alarmed.  
  
"I... I don't know," I said, as the cockpit suddenly transformed into the dark landscape inhabited by the Lady and the Saint.  
  
"I hope you're pleased with yourself," Lady Une said. "The poor man is probably confused by your actions. If you had chosen one of us instead, everything would be fine."  
  
"Maybe he hasn't noticed," Saint Une said hopefully. "She looked like me, at least. He'll probably just think that I woke up in time to save him, and..."  
  
"When have you ever piloted a Mobile Suit, much less a Gundam?" Lady Une said. "Tell you what. Although we look like you, Saint Une let me go out and claim responsibility for this incident. Blame our appearance on the fact that we were just in a coma." She turned to me. "I need your approval if I'm going to fix what your stupidity caused."  
  
"And I'm not giving it. I'm going to go out on my own, and be honest with him. Neither of you will be making decisions for me."   
  
"Why do you have to be so damned stubborn?" Lady Une yelled. "You're not the one whose reputation is hanging by a damned thread because of this! If we hadn't decided to free those damned pilots, Tsubarov would have never shot us, and we would have never gone into that damned coma, and you wouldn't have become sentient!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's true. Before this coma, you unconsciously made the decision of you would control the body for us. But then, Tsubarov shoot us, and you suddenly became... aware," Saint Une said.  
  
"If I could, I'd smack you black and blue. Then I would stretch you out on a rack, hang you upside-down over a pool of sharks, and I would toss you out of a plane and shoot you in the face. Then I would drop a bomb on the place where you landed, grind your corpse up, and feed it to Dor-"  
  
"Be quiet," Saint Une commanded, for perhaps one of the first few times in her life.   
"Someone's saying something."  
  
Une...? Can you hear me?  
  
"Mr. Treize..." we all said at once.   
  
Une, I'm so sorry... I never meant for this to happen...any of it.  
  
We stood silent, trying to listen.  
  
Une, I know it was you who saved me. It wasn't them. I could tell by the way you spoke... The way you looked at me...  
  
"Oh no! He did know it wasn't us!" Saint Une said with a shriek.   
  
It was just like the old days...  
  
"What 'old days'? What's he talking about?" Une said.  
  
I knew that one of these days, you would return... I knew it couldn't be like this forever.  
  
"You.... You... you've done this before?" Lady Une stammered.  
  
"I don't know?" was all I could say in reply.  
  
They've been holding you back, haven't they...? It's all my fault.  
  
No one spoke.  
  
I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for creating them.  
  
"What?" Lady and Saint Une hissed simultaneously. "He did what?"  
  
"I...I was the first, wasn't I? Everything you told me was a lie. I wouldn't have created a third personality! I would have reawaken the original one!"  
  
Lady Une sank to the nonexistent floor. I felt some sore of sadistic glee in watching her lose her composure. I'm sure Saint Une would have to if she weren't in the same situation as her counter part.  
  
You were always there to absorb the shock that I received by being a member of The Alliance and OZ... I lived in a world where peace and war were my food and drink. I was so torn between them.  
  
"Treize..."  
  
So you tore yourself, and put the burden on yourself. You didn't want me to go mad, so you went mad for me. To keep my warring side from corrupting me, you corrupted yourself. And to keep my peaceful side from weakening me, you weakened yourself. You gave everything you had for me...  
  
"This can't be true," moaned Lady Une. "How can it be possible that we were created by... by... her?"  
  
I want to bring that Une back. Not the one who would destroy a nation for me without a second thought. Not the one who would end a war for me. I want the one who loved me enough to split herself and make her soul into the incarnations of my two sides...  
  
I want you to come back, Une.  
  
"You heard him," I said the Lady and Saint Une. "I was the first, and I... I want my body and life back!"  
  
Lady Une clung to the Saint. "How could you? After everything we've done for you?"  
  
"It's no use, Lady Une," Saint Une said. "Her mind is made up. She was the real Une all along. We were nothing but her own puppets to make life better for Treize."  
  
"Damn you," Lady Une said.  
  
"Goodbye, Une," Saint Une said. "I hope... no, never mind." And with that, they vanished.   
  
I was alone. I was the only Une left.  
  
"I'm coming, Treize."   
  
Bright light once again entered my world, but it soon dimmed to the low glow of the control panels and the sparkling of the stars.  
  
"Une! You're all right!" Mr. Treize exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, Treize..."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Une. I never knew it would become this bad..."  
  
"It's all right," I replied. "It's not your fault I was so determined. And stupid," I added.  
  
I could tell by his face that he was at a loss of words. "Welcome back to the world... What shall you be called, now that you're neither the Lady or the Saint?"  
  
"Just "Une" is fine. I'm... the only Une now."  
  
"Une, I hate to cut this short, but I want you to return to Earth. It is too dangerous up in space, and the forces down below need leadership. Do you think you can do it?"  
  
"Anything, Mr. Treize."   
  
A few moments later, I was heading back to Earth. The Wing Zero had been traded in for a Leo to serve as transportation for me. It wasn't nearly a great experience as piloting the Wing Zero, but then again, hardly anything had been.  
  
Oh, Mr. Treize... I thought. I knew I couldn't keep bearing the load for him in this war, but... there was still a longing deep within me.  
  
I wondered if the Lady and the Saint would ever live again.  
  
  
  
Author's Notes...  
  
Well, this was interesting to write, and quite fun, too. I'm not sure why I started writing this; it just sort of popped out of nowhere. Oh well. But I've always had a thing for Une. She was the first GW character that really stood out to me, and well, she's my favorite after Noin.  
  
This is also the... uh... second version. I kinda cut off the ending by mistake the first time I submitted it, and probably confused most of the readers too. Oh well.  
  
I would also like to thank a couple people, too. First, my physics teacher, for being boring enough to give me enough time to write this up when I should have been listening (no offense or anything). Most of all, I'd like to thank Esmerelda Kii. If not for all of  
her proofreading and moral support/threats, this fic wouldn't have ever made it this far (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Thanks, Ez. Don't forget to keep kicking ass. ^_^  
  
And I'd like to thank you for putting up with me for this long, and hopefully I can thank you for reviewing it too *hint hint*)  
  
~Mercutio 


End file.
